Hardware related?

My old machine constantly gets a Windows protection error. (Win 98SE). No
new hardware has been added or removed. No software has been added or
removed. It isn't on a network and doesn't have internet access. I cannot
boot properly into Windows anymore.

Is this hardware related? Or putting it another way, what issues can cause a
Windows protection error? The message occurs during boot before the
operating system has finished loading. Any suggestions?

Try cleaning up.Check that dust hasn't built up inside the fans,CPU,Power
supply etc.
Also,have you tried re-installing Windows?

My old machine constantly gets a Windows protection error. (Win 98SE). No
new hardware has been added or removed. No software has been added or
removed. It isn't on a network and doesn't have internet access. I cannot
boot properly into Windows

Try cleaning up.Check that dust hasn't built up inside the fans,CPU,Power
supply etc.
Also,have you tried re-installing Windows?

OK, I had a look it only had a tiny bit of dust near the CPU, but its still
the same. With respect, what difference would this have made?

I have been thinking about re-installing, but I'm still not sure if its
hardware rather than OS related, since nothing has changed. I don't want to
waste my time re-installing if possible.

On Sat, 4 Oct 2003 19:48:29 +0100, In this world we created "-"
wrote :

Try cleaning up.Check that dust hasn't built up inside the fans,CPU,Power
supply etc.
Also,have you tried re-installing Windows?

OK, I had a look it only had a tiny bit of dust near the CPU, but its still
the same. With respect, what difference would this have made?

I have been thinking about re-installing, but I'm still not sure if its
hardware rather than OS related, since nothing has changed. I don't want to
waste my time re-installing if possible.



I'd suspect the RAM 1st.Remove and clean edges and if Sdram and u have
two sticks try each separately in each slot.



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On Sat, 4 Oct 2003 18:52:37 +0100, "-" wrote:

My old machine constantly gets a Windows protection error. (Win 98SE). No
new hardware has been added or removed. No software has been added or
removed. It isn't on a network and doesn't have internet access. I cannot
boot properly into Windows anymore.

Is this hardware related? Or putting it another way, what issues can cause a
Windows protection error? The message occurs during boot before the
operating system has finished loading. Any suggestions?


if it hasn't been booted 5 separate days since the problem started,
try doing a registry restore, boot to the command prompt (hit F8
righ after the POST is done, before the splash screen, choose command
prompt, and type "scanreg /restore", choosing which date you want to
restore when given the choice... probably the oldest or right before
the problem would be the one to choose.

Or, right after the machine POSTs, before the windows splash screen
apprears, hit F8 key to choose a logged boot. Then when the system
stops you can reboot, again pressing F8 and boot to a comand prompt,
and type "type bootlog.txt", which shows you where the boot process
stopped, at the end.

You could also use the same boot menu as above and boot to safe mode,
see if that works. While in safe mode run "msconfig" to see what's
loading at startup, and you might systematically disable everything
loading (on the furthest right, "startup" tab), see if the machine
then boots ok, and re-enabling those items again one or a few at a
time.

While there's no guarantee that it'd resolve the problem, reinstalling
windows ON TOP OF ITSELF is another option... You would lose many of
the operating system updates, but retain installed programs and such.
It would be a good idea to make a backup prior to doing this
reinstall.


Dave

On Sat, 4 Oct 2003 18:52:37 +0100, "-" wrote::

My old machine constantly gets a Windows protection error. (Win 98SE). No
new hardware has been added or removed. No software has been added or
removed. It isn't on a network and doesn't have internet access. I cannot
boot properly into Windows anymore.

Is this hardware related? Or putting it another way, what issues can cause a
Windows protection error? The message occurs during boot before the
operating system has finished loading. Any suggestions?


Just about anything. All it basically means is that a part of memory
that had something overwritten or corrupted that wasn't supposed to.

On the software side, a corrupted driver or system file could do it.

It could be a left over piece of a program that was left behind after
its uninstallation. Or quite the opposite, that a program's
uninstaller was written wrong and uninstalled something expected
elsewhere.

These can sometimes be fixed by running a housekeeping utility like
Norton Windows Doctor (From Norton Utilities). The less expensive fix
that's commonly recommended (especially for win95/98/98SE/ME), is to
back up your files and re-install the OS from time to time for this
very reason.

On the hardware side, a CPU or memory problem can cause this.
Improper seating, overheating, overclocking, etc. can cause protection
errors.

These are just the possibilities that I could think of off the top of
my head, and assumes that nobody's doing it on purpose. It's why the
BSOD error is generally called a "GENERAL" protection fault.


----------------------------------------
Thanks,

MCheu

On Sun, 5 Oct 2003 02:34:10 +0100, Knowing that it was a Hollywood
invention that lemmings jump off cliffs "-" wrote
:

These are just the possibilities that I could think of off the top of
my head, and assumes that nobody's doing it on purpose. It's why the
BSOD error is generally called a "GENERAL" protection fault.

This isn't a BSOD message though its a black "Windows Protection Error. You
need to restart you computer" message.

Anyway, thanks to you and everybody else for the suggestions - I will try
them out and report back if I get anywhere.


These may also help,

http://members.tripod.com/Richard_Mask/w98tsa.htm
http://www.windrivers.com/tech/troub...exceptions.htm
http://support.microsoft.com/support...-US&SD=SO&FR=0
http://www.jacksonville.net/~jaginc/hd_w9xerror2.htm
http://support.microsoft.com/support.../q194/1/77.asp
http://www.jacksonville.net/~jaginc/hd_gpfaults.htm
http://www.generation.net/~hleboeuf/erridx2.htm



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Free Windows/PC help,
It's a G not a J in jmx to reply
http://www.geocities.com/sheppola/trouble.html
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http://www.soundclick.com/bands/8/nomessiahsmusic.htm